Eye lens dose in interventional cardiology.

The ICRP has recently recommended reducing the occupational exposure dose limit for the lens of the eye to 20 mSv y(-1), averaged over a period of 5 y, with no year exceeding 50 mSv, instead of the current 150 mSv y(-1). This reduction will have important implications for interventional cardiology and radiology (IC/IR) personnel. In this work, lens dose received by a staff working in IC is studied in order to determine whether eye lens dose monitoring or/and additional radiological protection measures are required. Eye lens dose exposure was monitored in 10 physicians and 6 nurses. The major IC procedures performed were coronary angiography and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The personnel were provided with two thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLDs): one calibrated in terms of Hp(3) located close to the left ear of the operator and a whole-body dosemeter calibrated in terms of Hp(10) and Hp(0.07) positioned on the lead apron. The estimated annual eye lens dose for physicians ranged between 8 and 60 mSv, for a workload of 200 procedures y(-1). Lower doses were collected for nurses, with estimated annual Hp(3) between 2 and 4 mSv y(-1). It was observed that for nurses the Hp(0.07) measurement on the lead apron is a good estimate of eye lens dose. This is not the case for physicians, where the influence of both the position and use of protective devices such as the ceiling shield is very important and produces large differences among doses both at the eyes and on the thorax. For physicians, a good correlation between Hp(3) and dose area product is shown.

Herramientas tipo tesauros como ayuda en la codificación en rehabilitación. Conceptos y metodología de construcción / Thesaurus type tools as coding aid in rehabilitation. Construction concepts and methodology

Introducción. El tesauro RHBHRT-2000 es propuesto como una herramienta de ayuda a la codificación, al tener la capacidad de reconducir el lenguaje “hablado” por los profesionales hacia el “lenguaje normalizado” necesario para la codificación diagnóstica. Método. Se desarrolló en tres fases. Inicialmente se elaboró de un tesauro manual en soporte impreso; en un segundo paso, se realizó la introducción de los mismos en un soporte informático, y, finalmente, durante la fase de aplicación se mantuvo un procedimiento de mejora, mediante la depuración de errores y la introducción de sinónimos y cuasinónimos no incluidos previamente. Resultados. Construcción de un tesauro conteniendo1.800 descriptores, 1.400 sinónimos o cuasinónimos. Se incluyen también un total de 1.425 códigos CIE-9, 127 códigos de síndromes de deterioro y 148 códigos de procedimientos. Discusión. Se propone el tesauro como herramienta útil para la codificación no sólo por facilitar la búsqueda de códigos, sino también por permitir establecer relaciones entre campos distintos del conocimiento de modo controlado. No obstante, reconocemos que la búsqueda de soluciones para estos propósitos apartó el instrumento finalmente desarrollado de un tesauro en el sentido ortodoxo, lo que nos hace introducir el concepto herramienta “tipo tesauro

Introduction. RHBHRT-2000 thesaurus is proposed as a coding help tool, as it has the capacity to redirect the language “spoken” by the professions towards “normalize dlanguage” necessary for diagnostic coding. Method. It was developed in three phases. Initially, it waselaborated from a manual thesaurus in printed form. In a second step, they were introduced into a computer form. Finally, during the application phase, an improvement procedure was maintained by treatment of errors and introduction of synonyms or quasisynonyms not included previously. Results. Construction of a thesaurus containing 1800 descriptors,1400 synonyms or quasisynonyms. A total of1425 ICD-9 codes, 127 codes of deterioration syndromes and 148 codes of procedures were also included. Discussion. The thesaurus is proposed as a useful tool forcoding not only because it facilitates the search for codes but also because it makes it possible to establish relationships between different fields of knowledge in a controlled way. However, we recognize that the search for solutions for these purposes moves the instrument finally developed away from a thesaurus in the orthodox sense, which is why we have introduced the concept “thesaurus type” tool